Global ecosystems are currently facing significant challenges and require urgent protection. While energy fuels the economy and society, it often poses threats to terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems due to its resource consumption and pollution. These threats include water consumption, thermal pollution, contamination from coal mines, petroleum leakage into soil, wastes from power plants, etc. To ensure ecosystem protection, it is essential to examine the impacts of energy systems on ecosystems and develop strategies for mitigating these impacts. Previously, the study of this issue has mostly focused on mid-point impacts, i.e., human activities such as water use and carbon emissions, while the end-point biodiversity impacts have seldom been assessed. The nexus and tradeoffs between energy and ecosystems have not been fully understood and incorporated into energy transition strategies.
In this Research Topic, we aim to address the challenge of quantitatively assessing the impacts of energy systems on ecosystems. This topic requires an interdisciplinary approach, involving both the energy system and the ecological system. First, we should identify the specific activities related to energy systems. Different energy systems impact biodiversity in different ways. For example, fossil fuel and metal mining have impacts on biodiversity in the process of extraction, and renewables such as wind and hydropower, have biodiversity impacts during operation. Second, we need to establish the quantitative relationships between these energy activities and their impacts on the ecosystem. Additionally, we are interested in exploring strategies for mitigating impacts on ecosystems, which can be analyzed using models or qualitatively discussed in papers. various methods that can contribute to this topic are all welcomed, for example, lifecycle assessment, input-output analysis, econometric models, integrated assessment models, geographic analysis tools, etc.
Themes of interest include, but are not limited to: • Ecosystem impacts of fossil fuels • Ecosystem impacts of electricity generation • Ecosystem impacts of resource consumption by energy systems • Ecosystem impacts of pollutant emissions by energy systems • Strategies for mitigating the ecosystem impacts of energy systems
Article types and fees
This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:
Brief Research Report
Community Case Study
Conceptual Analysis
Data Report
Editorial
FAIR² Data
FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
General Commentary
Hypothesis and Theory
Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.
Article types
This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:
Brief Research Report
Community Case Study
Conceptual Analysis
Data Report
Editorial
FAIR² Data
FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
General Commentary
Hypothesis and Theory
Methods
Mini Review
Opinion
Original Research
Perspective
Policy and Practice Reviews
Policy Brief
Review
Systematic Review
Technology and Code
Keywords: ecosystem, resource consumption, pollutant emissions, energy systems, planetary boundaries
Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
